Be Brave, Tobias
by RedRoses92
Summary: (Sorry, couldn't think of a better title. ALLEGIANT SPOILERS) An Alternate Ending to Allegiant. One-Shot. "He could almost see her stubborn stance and her defiant, determined eyes as she endeavored to prove not to the transfers, but to the Dauntless-born initiates that she was more than just a Stiff, that she could match their bravery ounce for ounce."


**A/N : I'm pretty sure that no one was happy with the ending of Allegiant in general. But the last chapter gave little resolution (in my opinion) so this is my attempt to fix it.**

**Disclaimer: I am not Veronica Roth; I don't own the Divergent Trilogy.**

Tobias clutched the urn tight against his body, his fingertips white against its cool, metal surface. He was ready to let her go; it had taken him the better part of two years, but he could finally accept her death, accept that she had moved onto a world much better than the damaged, corrupt, and cruel one that he resided in. The grief was still there- it never really fades, but it was no longer the first thing that greeted him as he woke, knocking the wind out of his body and leaving him in a ball of agony, or the last thought that haunted him as he lay in bed at night, half-hoping to meet her in his dreams, but also dreading what he would become when he opened his eyes to realize that it was all fake. Now, the anguish had receded into a more isolated part of his mind- it was still present, a constant backdrop in his life, but no longer front and center. Taking a deep breath, Tobias stepped out of the elevator as it stopped on the ninety-ninth floor, and followed the others as they climbed the ladder up to the roof.  
They glanced at him. It was no longer the look they used to use, as if he was a delicate piece of china, easily broken, but worry still consumed their expressions. Before Christina, Dauntless to the core, could volunteer to go first, Tobias raised his voice, shaky and saturated with fear.  
"Let me do it. Let me be the first one."  
The others shot uneasy looks at each other, before Zeke finally spoke.  
"Are you sure, man?"  
He nodded once, tight and clipped.  
"Its what she what have wanted."  
He remembered his shock, his astonishment when he discovered that she, a Stiff, had been the first jumper. Even he himself was too cowardly to offer to be the first to jump to his perhaps death. Now he would make up for it. She faced her doubts; he would face his fear, in real life instead of a simulation. It was the least he could do.  
Zeke looked as if to protest, something like _'I don't think she would have wanted you to be scared half-dead from your fear of heights'_, but thought better of it. They parted to let him through. Up until that point, Tobias had avoided looking down as they climbed the height of the building. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend that he was still on the ground, safe and solid. But now, standing at the edge of the building, he could see out across the city he once thought was the only place in the world. His heart sped up and his lungs constricted, inhibiting his ability to breathe. Tobias gasped, squeezing his eyes shut and kneeling to the ground, pressing the urn hard against his chest.  
"I-I don't think-" he managed to choke out.  
Then, a strange warmth filled his body, and he suddenly thought of what she must have felt when she was in the same position as he was now. He could almost see her stubborn stance and her defiant, determined eyes as she endeavored to prove not to the transfers, but to the Dauntless-born initiates that she was more than just a Stiff, that she could match their bravery ounce for ounce.  
A soft breeze blew past him, and he could swear that he heard her voice exactly as he remembered it, feminine but backed with a strength hardly seen in the toughest of men:  
"Be brave, Tobias."  
He snatched wildly at the air, hoping to grasp any remnant of her presence that was left, but he found none. Reeling, he turned toward Zeke with a newfound light in his eyes.  
"Strap me in, and put the urn behind me."  
Zeke nodded soundlessly, and Tobias slipped into the sling face-first, as he imagined that she would have done, so she could see the clouds approach and could feel like she was flying. He felt the hard mass of the urn being wedged behind him, and he knew that it was time. Replaying her words, Tobias forced his eyelids open as Zeke tightened the straps, and he began to fall. It was nothing he had experienced before; it felt as if his stomach had dropped twenty feet below him along with his lungs and throat. He could not breathe; he could not speak. He opened his mouth to let out a scream, but the strong wind slammed into the back of his throat and he struggled not to choke. He grasped the edges of the harness tightly- painfully- the tendons standing out on his clenched fists as the air whooshed around him and his organs tumbled around inside his body. His eyes were open, but none of the sights registered in his mind that was paralyzed by fear; all he could sense was his body falling, falling, hurtling through thin air at a radical momentum, nothing substantial between him and the rock- hard ground...

And then it was over, the ashes scattered. Tobias jumped out from the sling, and immediately collapsed onto the ground, his whole body wracked with trembles occurring at an alarming frequency. After what seemed a decade, he at last gained back full control of his body, and drew himself up off the grass, looking behind him to see if anyone else was on the way. He could spot no one. Sighing, Tobias finally let images of her flood his brain- her slightly muscled arms, her slender hips. He remembered how striking her appearance always was, even when dulled in Abnegation gray, and how her fingers would curl into his hair as they kissed and softly brush along the contours of his body, as if still not quite believing that he was actually there.

And then he knew.

She was not dead, but forever immortalized in their hearts. His, Christina's, Zeke's, Matthew's, Caleb's, and even Evelyn's. His memories might haze with time, but his love would not diminish.  
It would burn bright, just like her, forever until the day he died, joining her. At last, he let his lips shape the name that he had not dared to speak for the past two-and-a-half years.  
"Tris."

* * *

From above, Tris gazed upon Tobias with tears in her eyes.  
"You got it. You finally got it."

* * *

**A/N: Please review. Please. Just, please. ;)**


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